The Soft Side Of Life
by Ennessee
Summary: In a parallel universe, Connor convinces Haytham to come to live with him. How will their new lives be? Will they finally get along?


Connor and his Father were walking side by side in Boston, ready to go back home for dinner. It was already late and the two men were tired and irritable. They were not used yet to their new truce –now permanent, it seemed, since Charles Lee was finally dead. They were headed to the tavern they had rented, both of them still angry from the last quarrel, and everything seemed to be destined to remain that way until...

"Connor? For God's sake, what are you doing?!" Haytham asked, noticing that his son was kneeling down in a corner for no apparent reason. The boy mumbled something and then he went on with his silent whispering.

"Answer me, boy!" he exclaimed, this time louder.

"I will not leave you here, I promise. I will carry you with me, and we will be together forever and ever. Nothing and no-one will ever divide us".

"Connor? What is it, a love declaration to a stone? Or have you-" he began, but the Former Templarìs words were trounced down by what he saw.

"Ooh" was all he managed to say.

The cutest puppy dog he had ever seen, just a few centimetres long and so little that it could be held in a single hand looked at him with his huge eyes.

The man kneeled down, his most ferocious grin on and with his eyes as cold as stone. His hands, which still retained bloodstains from the last fight, were stretched out towards the animal in a slow and threaten way. Connor looked at his father, fearing that he could injure his new friend. At least, the older man opened slowly his mouth to pronounce himself on the matter.

"Pucci pucci pucci pucci... look at this little puppy... smoshy-wooshy mushy-gushy..."

Connor dropped his mouth open. That was not the reaction he had expected.

"What are we going to do?"

"We're taking him home, of course, to the Old Man, and we'll nurture him. He will be our little one. What are you waiting for, boy? Take off your jacket and let me wrap him in it! Do you have the courage to leave this sweetie-sugar here, shivering and starving in the cold?"

The Native boy nodded gravely, fully understanding the matter.

"About the name..."

"He will be called Bubba-Bo, Connor, and make no mistake about it! Come here, darling, your brother does not understand you..."

If anyone walking by had listed to them, he would have thought that they were both in urgent need for medical care; there was no other explanation to the fact that two feared grown-up men would be so involved with such an ugly half-breed dog.

It was around four o'clock in the night when the Old Man woke up, hearing noises from the outside. He jumped out of bed and he lit a candle. In the light of dawn, he could see two blurred figures appearing slowly.

'Connor and his father, no doubt' he thought, and he had almost convinced himself to come back to sleep when he saw something. A little white burden in Haytham's arms. He startled, jumping higher than his legs could support and almost losing his must have had a son. A secret son, and now he was taking him there and he was going to leave the baby to his care while saw himself changing dirty napkins and felt close to fainting, or having a stroke. He could almost see himself, side by side with his former enemy, taking care of their shared grandson.

His suspects were denied by the fact that, as soon as the men stepped in, a little bundle revealed a dog, 'Bubba-Bo'. This matter reassured him because it meant that he was not due for a precocious grandfather role, and that the ferocious Templar had completely lost his reason, hence not being a threat any longer.

Soon after the dog was revealed in all his pathetic cuteness, a new kind of fight began. If before the old men If before the old men If before the old men quarrelled on matters such as their former alliances and their very different philosophies. Now, though, they began to argue about the dog. First of all, the Assassin Mentor did not want to keep him home, especially in the living room. Later, the two of them fought over who of them would have brought him on the bed. Haytham felt no shame in shouting and waving his big hands in order to gain the right to share his bed with his Bubba-Bo, and Connor felt a bit envious sometimes. He could not stop himself from smiling, though.

**Notes: I hope you enjoy! Please comment and review. **

**The expression : Pucci pucci is used in Italian with children or small animals. It denotes something cute and usually also soft; adorable. Can you please suggest me a way to translate it in English correctly? Thank you!**


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